Mid Sierra Musings: Millerton Lake

Dale Matson

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Red Tailed Hawk

I can’t express enough how blessed we are to live 20 minutes from a half million-acre foot reservoir primarily fed by the San Joaquin River, the second longest river in California. The headwaters are in the high Sierra with the three forks joining at Mammoth Pool Reservoir. We swim once a week for 6 months out of the year. We hike the many trails and encounter all kinds of birds and beasts.

This is a great time of year for birding since there are many visiting eagles from Great Slave Lake in Canada. The temperatures are cool for hiking, the rattlesnakes are dormant, the vegetation is green and the lake is filling. This has been a good year and the lake is being drained again to accommodate what appears to be a massive water year with over 300” of Sierra snowfall thus far.

The center of the San Joaquin and Millerton Lake form the borders between Madera and Fresno Counties. There is plenty of camping on the Madera side of the lake and of course boating for fishermen and skiers.

I climbed Pincushion Mountain with about 1,200’ of ascent in 1.2 miles on Tuesday. This trail has become very popular with trail runners and those hiking the San Joaquin River Trail. It’s a hard climb for a 74-year-old like me but the view is worth it, especially with the clear air. One can see a good view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Today I sat in one of my favorite locations for photographing birds. It is referred to as the Eagles Nest picnic area. It is off the road just above the Buzzards’ Roost Trail on the Madera County Side of the lake.

I thought I would share some landscape and wildlife photos from these two trips this week. I used my Sony A9 with the 100-400 mm lens and included one shot from a Leica Q taken on another day on the Buzzards Roost Trail.